Football fans make their way to trains in Secaucus, N.J. Many fans complained of long delays and hot trains. / Matt Rourke, AP

by Brent Schrotenboer, USA TODAY Sports

by Brent Schrotenboer, USA TODAY Sports

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- More than 27,000 people flooded the Secaucus train station in New Jersey for transportation to the Super Bowl on Sunday, wildly exceeding official estimates as fans waited uncomfortably amid long delays to the game.

A spokesman for NJ Transit told USA TODAY Sports that game organizers estimated that 12,000 to 15,000 people would take New Jersey trains to the game. By 4:30 p.m. ET, about two hours before kickoff, the actual number was 27,000, said Bill Smith, spokesman for NJ Transit. Smith said the previous record was 22,000 for a U2 concert in 2009.

The same problem happened after the game when the same passengers tried to go back. To help relieve the postgame bottleneck, the public-address announcer at MetLife Stadium asked train passengers to remain in the stadium until further notice.

"Please stay in the stadium if you are heading to the train station due to congestion," the video board at the stadium said after the game.

Many of them had come by train because they were told to do so by the game's organizers because of the lack of parking at the stadium. Only about 11,000 to 13,000 parking spaces were available out of the usual 28,000 because of the increased media and security requirements at the game.

Smith cited another reason for passenger delays before the game. He said a number of trains arrived simultaneously at the same time security agents started screening passenger baggage. This delayed passengers from deboarding at the station, he said.

"We believe that the earlier bottlenecking was caused by the simultaneous arrival of trains," Smith said.

He said contingency plans were put into effect to ease the problem. NJ Transit ran 10-car train sets for the game, the maximum allowed for the Secaucus Junction station and MetLife Stadium. Smith said the trains could accommodate 1,350 seated passengers and additional standees. They operated on a "load-and-go" basis, he said.

Charles Watkins and his wife flew into Newark from Denver on Friday evening. Watkins said they took a train from Newark to Secaucus, then transferred to a MetLife train en route to the game.

From the time they got to Secaucus, Watkins said it took 90 minutes to step foot off the train in East Rutherford.

"I don't know if it was organized very well," Watkins said. "Everyone was kind of packed in there, it was too hot and then, belatedly, they started breaking up the groups a little bit. Overall, we got here, so we're happy."

Smith said EMTs were stationed on the scene as part of planning and for those complaining of the heat, any treatment provided consisted of bottled water.

Chez Allici and his wife drove from Philadelphia to Secaucus early Sunday morning in an attempt to hop one of the first trains to head out, which was scheduled to depart at 1:41 p.m. Despite the reports of problems, Allici reported none.

"It really wasn't a hassle at all, I honestly thought everything was moving pretty good," Allici said. "The only problem we had was the car we were on was hot for whatever reason, but other than that, the line moved well, everything was clearly marked and the police officers on duty were very helpful."

Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, said TSA continued to screen baggage "throughout the day" and only a small percentage of passengers brought baggage anyway. Fans also were screened by security upon entry into MetLife Stadium.